Reviewing young adult, new adult, and romance since 2013.

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish worlds I’d never want to live in

Hello and happy Top Ten Tuesday! Today we’re talking about bookish worlds we’d never want to live in, which is a terribly difficult topic because I usually only read books with worlds I would want to live in! It took some thinking, but I finally came up with ten.

1. BLACK LONDON in V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series.

If you haven’t read this series, you should because it’s amazing and it will shatter your heart into a million pieces. But anyway, Black London is a horrible place where magic has taken over the world. Sealed away from the other three Londons, magic runs rampant and chokes out any and all life.

2. WHITE LONDON in V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series.

In contrast to Black London, White London is led by a tyrannical set of twins who have drained the happiness out of their world. The Danes use their magic to exert control and keep their subjects loyal and after everything that happened to my favorite villain of all time, HOLLAND VOSIJK, I would never want to set a single foot into that world.

3. RONAN’S DREAMS in The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater.

No spoilers for the series here, but holy heck, I would not want to live through Ronan’s nightmares. I might’ve had some pretty bad nightmares over the years (the one about my stuffed animals coming to life and killing me after watching Child’s Play as a small child still haunts me) but I’ve never dealt with the level of bloodthirsty monsters that Ronan finds in his dream world.

4. ENDOVIER in Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas.

I haven’t finished this series yet, but I’m pretty sure there’s no redeeming Endovier, a salt mine prison that comes with complimentary whippings if you get out of line.

5. HONESTLY ANY OF THE FACTIONS FROM DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth.

It’s been a loooooong time since I read the Divergent series, but yeah, count me out. Any kind of society where I have to pick one personality attribute and stick to it lest I become homeless (okay, vast oversimplification of the series) is not one I want to be part of.

6. PANEM in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

This world is literally the definition of a dystopian society. They willingly send their children off to die in exchange for a bit more food! It’s a hard nope from me.

7. LEVANA’S COURT in The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.

I actually love the world of The Lunar Chronicles. I’d love to ride around in the Rampion and I’d love to meet (almost) all of the characters, but count me out from Levana’s court. It’s a place where the ruler openly messes with your mind, making you see things that aren’t there, making you do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do, and where people can be killed for fun. I’d rather not.

8. MARS in Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

This series had some of the best worldbuilding I’ve ever seen (and I might wish that Pierce Brown was one of my best friends) BUT ALSO everything is terrible and I don’t want anything to do with this place.

9. VERITY in Victoria Schwab’s Monsters of Verity duology.

Literally the whole premise of the book is that people are so terrible that their sins started creating monsters. I loved the books, but I DON’T THINK SO.

10. KETTERDAM in Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

I think I’m one of the approximately three people in the world who did not adore Six of Crows, but that’s okay. Not every book is for every person. I wouldn’t want to live in a world with this many criminals, regardless of how likable the protagonists of this book might have been.

Did you participate in this week’s theme? Do you agree or disagree with my choices? Anywhere you think I missed? Let me know in the comments!